It was started off by the late visionary R K Vissanji, also known as Vada Bhai, head of the Wallace Group in the erstwhile Bombay, now Mumbai. This gentle industrialist took the unknown Wilson Jones under his wing and it was his particular delight that Wilson won India its first world crown way back in 1958
Under his care, BBA undertook the administration of the game in Maharashtra with rare enthusiasm. He was responsible for bringing in illustrious international stars such as Horace Lindrum, Kingsley Kennerley, Bob Marshall, Leslie Driffield and Mohammed Lafir, among others, to play in Mumbai. He also brought the National Championship, formerly the exclusive preserve of Calcutta, to this city for the first time in 1960. It was the unique boast of BBA that it was the only association that had some tournament or other running in the city 12 months in the year. Under his stewardship, champions like Michael Ferreira, Shyam Shroff,Ashok Shandilya, Devendra Joshi were able to hone their skills and write their names in the history books of the game. The BBA then changed its name to the present one some 25 years ago to reflect the reality of the game and highlight the fact that snooker had come of age.
